Wednesday, February 8, 2012

”East-West road alone can gulp N-Delta allocation”

Chairman, Senate Committee on Niger Delta, Senator James Manager, has bemoaned the budgetary allocation of N59,723,482,821[$373m] to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs in the 2012 federal budget, describing it as insufficient to tackle the infrastructural deficit in the oil rich region.

Speaking during the Ministry’s 2012 Budget Defence before the Committee during the week, James Manager said “the amount owed contractors handling the East-West road alone may gulp the whole budget.”

He lamented the progressive decline of the Ministry’s budget each year, but assured that his Committee will assist the Ministry in the achieving its mandate, so that the relative peace attained in the region can be sustained.

In his presentation earlier, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe noted that paucity of funds is a major constraint affecting the Ministry.

The Minister however noted that some projects like the
East-West Road have reached a considerable level of progress of completion.

He sought the Committee’s intervention in the dwindling budgetary allocations for capital projects of the Ministry which he said is a major source of concern.